Fetal cardiac interventions

Abstract

This chapter discusses the ethical issues surrounding fetal diagnoses and their in-utero management, two subjects that are becoming increasingly commonplace in pediatric cardiac care centers. Specifically, the problematic notion of having a diagnosis with an unclear natural history in utero that may lead to critical illness postnatally and that may warrant fetal intervention to prevent such postnatal illness is discussed within the framework of medical ethics, clinical reviews and postmodern philosophy.